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View Poll Results: Would you have...

Voters

23. You may not vote on this poll

Would you have sent your dog for the retrieve?

1773.91%

Would you have blindfolded your dog and pretended nothing happened?

14.35%

Would you have grabbed the bird and used it for training at some later date?

Dove retrieve out of season

So, there we are, minding our own business (my Sadie and me) watching the 49'ers stage a monumental comeback when we hear about a million crows absolutely raising hell on the other side of the house. Now, remember that we live at the beach so houses are close together, and when we went out front to see what the commotion was about we found out that a hawk had taken a dove and was sitting in our next door neighbor's very tall tree having a late lunch...and the crows didn't like it much.

To make a potentially long story a little shorter, the hawk eventually dropped the dove for some reason and there it was lying on the ground...the perfect opportunity for an urban retrieve of a freshly killed dove. Crows screaming. Hawk joined by two others wanting in on the action. And Sadie and me. What's a guy and his dog to do?? Even out of season, we had to take swift action. In full sight of the neighbors on both sides of the street. And the people on bicycles. And the joggers (we are in "Sort Of Southern California" after all). And the walkers. And the weekend gawkers (aka "tourists"). So, again, what were we to do??? Quick decision: put Sadie at heel, give her a line (she hadn't seen the dove fall), and send her off on an out of season urban blind retrieve down a sidewalk and into another neighbor's driveway. Of course, she nailed it, brought it to hand and sat at heel waiting for the next one. In the interest of being the law-abiding citizens we are, I took Sadie back to our patio and then went back out front to toss the dove out for the hawks and crows to fight over.

Are we guilty of some heinous crime having retrieved a dove out of season? Are we to be pursued by one or more law enforcement agencies? Are we possibly going to be responsible for a Supreme Court review of Fish & Game Department regulations? Or...should I have plucked and eaten it? What would YOU have done?

Depends on what kind of dove it was! Was it one of those obnoxious noisy ringnecked "eurasian' evil Collared doves? If so then you did the right thing! If it was a real dove, then , well still i'd have let the dog get it. The only good thing about those doves is that they are bigger and taste fantastic. Next one- breast it out and sautee in butter and garlic... Any FG officer would hve to be a real d*ck to get yu for something that the birds killed...

"Force fetch isn't about retrieving as much as it is conditioning a dog to handle pressure, in a very controlled environment. It's about putting a dog in the position of having to figure out how to turn off pressure by finding the correct response. This translates into numerous areas in training." Sharon Potter.

dove poppers---well, in this case dove popper. Good hors d'oeuvre for the game. Goes nicely with wine and cheese. Go Niner's!

John Stroh, Lodi ca

There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace…........If one has cut, split, hauled, and piled his own good oak, and let his mind work the while, he will remember much about where the heat comes from, and with a wealth of detail denied to those who spend the weekend in town astride a radiator.

while the cold temps are more forgiving, I only stop for critters I hit or see hit by a car or two in front of me. That said I have stopped for White Tail Deer, Turkey, Ruffed Grouse, Bunny Rabbit and Chickens. I did give the chickens back to the farmer.

edit - add woodchuck

"So what is big is not always the Trout nor the Deer but the chance, the being there. And what is full is not necessarily the creel nor the freezer, but the memory." ~ Aldo Leopold

"The Greatest Obstacle to Discovery is not Ignorance -- It is the Illusion of Knowledge" ~ Daniel Boorstin